Thursday, December 31, 2009

The Year 2009 is the most colorful year in my life. There were so many “first time” experiences during this blessed year. I thank God from my heart for this wonderful year, and I entrust the coming year to the loving care of Our Blessed Mother.

Wednesday, December 30, 2009

There are a few projects going on in my life. Want to share couple of them with you and ask for your prayers.

I am currently working on Lenten expositions of holy relics for students, parishioners, prayer groups members, and participants of retreat. I am still trying to obtain a number of relics from different religious communities. I have just started to put some relics into wooden frames. We are going to form a team of volunteers from my prayer groups to write a description for each 1st class relic at the expositions.

Prayer group meeting in the presence of 16 relics (there were 12 relics inside the box!):

It’s always a joy to see people whom I was blessed to baptize. I baptized the two girls 3 years ago on the Feast of the Holy Family. And I baptized their mom at Easter, 2007. We had a few photos together on this holy day of Christmas.

After celebrating 4 Christmas Masses and hearing Confessions, I am feeling a bit tired now. Will go to bed early! Good night world!

Wish you all a blessed Christmas!!!

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An outline of my Sermon:

Prophet: He is not only the Messenger of God. He is the Message. By contemplating the Infant Jesus, we learn about the Love of God. Jesus was born in humiliation, poverty, and suffering to expiate the pride, covetousness, and sensuality of men.

Priest: We are born to live, but only He was born to die. I preached about the connection between the Crib and the Cross. And the connection between the Crib and the Altar.

King: the three-fold birth of Christ—eternal birth of the Word, birth as man, and birth in souls by grace. We need to choose light, not darkness.

What is 'old' is new

During Advent we are united in spirit with the holy men and women of the Old Testament preparing for the coming of Christ. The Old Testament has a number of Messianic types: biblical people and objects, foreshadowing Christ. The types of the Old Testament can be divided into two categories: personal types of Christ (people) and symbols of Christ (things).

Personal types

Adam is the father of all according to the flesh, and Jesus is the father of all according to the spirit. God formed Eve from Adam's side, and God formed the Church from Jesus's side.

Abel was a shepherd, and Jesus is the shepherd of souls. Abel was killed by his own brother out of envy, and Jesus was killed by His own people out of envy.

Abraham is the father of the people of God, and Jesus is the father of Christians. The priest Melchizedek was without genealogy, and Jesus the high priest is on earth without father, in heaven without mother. Melchizedek offered bread and wine and Jesus instituted the Holy Eucharist under the appearances of bread and wine.

Isaac, though innocent, was condemned to death and carried the wood of sacrifice. Jesus, innocence itself, was also condemned to death, and He carried His own cross. Isaac was restored to life in figure, but Jesus was restored to life in reality.

Joseph was the object of envy of his own brothers. Jesus was the object of envy and hatred of His own people. Joseph was sold as slave to foreign merchants, and Jesus was sold by Judas, abandoned to the Romans, and suffered the torment of the cross, a punishment reserved for slaves.

Joseph pardoned his brothers and saved them from famine. Jesus pardoned His executioners and saved sinners from eternal death.

Moses led the people out of Egypt through parting waters; Jesus leads people out of sin through baptism. Moses was instrumental for the manna and the spring of water; Jesus instituted the Holy Eucharist and gave us the living water of the Holy Spirit.

Moses was the lawgiver for the Jews, and Jesus is the lawgiver for all people. Joshua led the people into the Promised Land, and Jesus leads us to heaven. Both Jesus and David were born in Bethlehem.

Symbols of Christ

The tree of life gave fruit to preserve the body from death. Jesus, Who died on the tree of the cross, became the fruit of eternal life for us. The paschal lamb was to be without spot, and "Jesus is the lamb unspotted and undefiled."

The blood of the paschal lamb preserved the people of God from the plague, and the blood of Christ saves all mankind from the plague of sin. After eating the paschal lamb, the chosen people were delivered from bondage. Receiving the Holy Eucharist helps us to overcome the devil and our passions.

The manna was given to the chosen people in the desert after their departure from Egypt until their entrance into the Promised Land. The Holy Eucharist is given to those who have left sin behind through baptism. They traverse this life as a desert and sing for the Promised Land of heaven. Both the Holy Eucharist and the manna are called "bread of angels" and "bread of heaven."

Moses lifted up the bronze serpent for the curing of the people. Jesus was lifted up on the cross for the forgiveness of the people. The bronze serpent resembled the poisonous serpents, and the Son of God came in the likeness of sinful flesh. He has experienced different temptations, yet is without sin.

St. Augustine reminded us of the these Messianic types when he wrote, "The New Testament lies hidden in the Old, and the Old Testament is unveiled in the New."

Monday, December 14, 2009

青年慈父與導師

假如我們不認識，就很難去愛；故此，聖若望.鮑思高神父相信要年青人熱愛信仰，必定要通過教授要理，讓他們認識自己的信仰。其實，早在一八四一年十二月八日，聖人已開始教導年青人：當時，他予一個未初領聖體的年幼孤兒講解要理，以教導他恭劃十字聖號作開端。不久，這孤兒又帶同了他的朋友一起學習；這樣，學習的人數漸漸增多，遂把這學習小組冠以「慶禮院Oratory」名稱。由於參與的青年日眾，鮑思高神父干脆開辦寄宿學校收容他們。團體不斷壯大之時，有些青年也跟隨聖人渡修道的生活；聖人因此在一八五九年十二月十九日成立了聖方濟.沙雷修會The Congregation of St. Francis de Sales，乃後來普認的「慈幼會」。

Father and teacher of youth

The Salesian Congregation, founded by St. John Bosco, will celebrate its 150th anniversary Dec. 19. The Salesian method of education involves reason, religion, and kindness.

Reason

St. John Bosco believed in thorough catechetical instruction for young people. In order to love our holy religion, we must know it; we cannot love what we do not know. St. John Bosco began his work for the young as a priest on Dec. 8, 1841, when he gave catechetical instruction to a young boy, an orphan who had not received his First Communion.

The first lesson St. John Bosco taught him was the Sign of the Cross. Later, this young boy brought friends to St. John Bosco for instruction; eventually the group of boys became a group called the Oratory.

The group continued to grow, and finally St. John Bosco opened a boarding school for them. When the school became too small, St. John Bosco opened other schools. Some of St. John Bosco’s students followed him into religious life, and on Dec. 19, 1859, the Congregation of St. Francis de Sales (the Salesians) was born.

In the last 150 years the Salesians have imparted religious, academic, and technical knowledge to many thousands of students, helping them to grow humanly, intellectually, and spiritually.

Religion

Holy Eucharist, confession, and devotion to Mary are the pillars of Salesian spirituality. St. John Bosco proposed these supernatural means as effective ways to safeguard and foster the virtue of chastity.

St. John Bosco valued chastity. Franciscans emphasize poverty, Dominicans emphasize obedience, and Salesians emphasize chastity. Salesians strive to provide young people with a healthy atmosphere of “work, pray, and play” to safeguard purity and to foster virtue.

Many vocations have been fostered in the Salesian environment. Many young children have the germ of a vocation, but if vocations are not fostered they can easily be lost during high school years.

Good surroundings and influences help to foster vocations. It is very important to help young people keep in touch with the holy, especially through prayer and the sacraments. It is very edifying to see that many young people today are devoted to Eucharistic adoration, and I hope that this will help to foster many vocations to the priesthood and religious life.

Kindness

“Being present” is love in action. One of the characteristics of the Salesians is the apostolate of presence and watchfulness. The presence of religious priests and brothers among young boys is an effective way to prevent them from sinning. This presence is also a sign of God’s loving presence among the young.

Before I came to Canada I studied five years at a Salesian high school in Hong Kong. The language of presence of the Salesians is one of the things I remember best, prompting me to consider the holy priesthood. Now, as a priest, I strive to speak the same language to the young people entrusted to my pastoral care.

Salesians also show kindness to young people through appreciation of efforts, friendliness, patient listening to their personal concerns, and playing with them on the playground. St. John Bosco’s first care was to win the heart of the student in order to guide him effectively to goodness.

Let us pray that all Catholic educators be inspired by the life of St. John Bosco and by the works of the Salesians

Bishop Fulton Sheen pioneered evangelization

This Wednesday, Dec. 9, will be the 30th anniversary of the death of Bishop Fulton Sheen. He was a pioneer of evangelization through social communication. Bishop Sheen was a man of prayer who had tremendous love for the Holy Eucharist and for immortal souls.

Man of the Holy Eucharist

On the day of his priestly ordination, Father Fulton Sheen resolved to make a Holy Hour every day before the Blessed Sacrament. It was a resolution he kept until the day of his death, but it was not always easy for him to keep his resolution.

Bishop Sheen once began the Holy Hour and fell asleep. He woke up in exactly one hour and thought, “Have I made a Holy Hour?” Then an angel told him, “That’s the way the apostles made their first Holy Hour in the garden, but don’t do it again.”

In order to keep himself awake during the Holy Hour, Bishop Sheen would sometimes pace up and down the aisle. As he got busier in life, he preferred to make his Holy Hour early in the morning. He wrote, “Priests, like everybody else, are divided into two classes: roosters and owls. Some work better in the morning, others at night.”

Bishop Sheen pointed out that the purpose of the Holy Hour is to encourage a deep personal encounter with Christ. He wrote, “Neither theological knowledge nor social action alone is enough to keep us in love with Christ unless both are preceded by a personal encounter with Him.”

The Holy Hour helped Bishop Sheen tremendously in preserving his priestly vocation. He pointed out that a priest begins to fail his priesthood when he fails in his love of the Eucharist.

In 1950 Pope Pius XII wrote about two points that priests should look for in every young man seriously desirous of becoming a good priest: chastity and devotion to the Blessed Sacrament. When Bishop Sheen was giving retreats to priests, he always focused on one general resolution, daily Holy Hour before the Blessed Sacrament.

Lover of souls

Bishop Sheen had a great love for souls. He reached out to many people through social communication using one of two approaches: direct and indirect. He used the direct approach on radio by presenting Catholic doctrine in plain and simple language and he used the indirect approach on television by starting with topics common to the audience and gradually proceeding to Christian topics.

He talked about art, science, war, humour, and many other themes on television, trying to reach out to the vast television audience of America. His best-known television series was called Life is Worth Living. It had over 30 million viewers.

Bishop Sheen’s usage of social communication attracted converts. Many people wrote to him asking for instruction, and he held classes for them. He made the following observations about souls:

Years ago souls were brought to a belief in God by the order of the universe. Today souls are brought to God by disorder within themselves.

There are not 10 people in the country (the U.S.) who hate the Catholic Church, but there are millions who hate the image of the Catholic Church that they have created out of misunderstanding.

Often what appears to be a doctrinal objection to faith turns out to be a moral objection.

It is always well never to pay attention to what people say, but rather why they say it; so often it is a rationalization of the way they live.

In this Year for Priests, let us pray that all priests have the same love for God and for souls as Bishop Fulton Sheen.

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Our Lady of the Clergy, Pray for Us!

O Priest! thou art not thyself, because thou art God; thou art not of thyself, because thou art the servant and minister of Christ; thou art not thine own, because thou art the spouse of the Church; thou art not for thyself, because thou art the mediator between God and man; thou art not from thyself, because thou art nothing. What then art thou, O Priest? Nothing and everything. O Priest! take care lest what was said to Christ on the Cross be said to thee: He saved others, himself he cannot save. -St. Norbert